"I was just pulling up to drop one of my friends off and I just seen a fire. It started from the bottom of the truck and then it just got bigger and bigger," Burke said.

Burke called 911 and firefighters arrived at the scene about 8:20 p.m. Friday, May 17, to find a red 2005 Ford Escape engulfed in flames under a carport in the apartment complex parking lot on Wicklow, near Shattuck.

"I called 911 as soon as I seen it," Burke said, explaining that the Saginaw Township Fire Department arrived at the scene within minutes of his call.

"I was scared. I didn't know if somebody did it or if it just started on its own," he said.

According to Assistant Fire Chief Rick Humphries, the fire, which spread to a section of the carport, appeared to be accidental.

"It was spreading across the structure of the carport here. It doesn't appear to have affected any of the other cars. It might have done some damage to some of the dumpsters," Humphries said.

Though he couldn't pinpoint a price for the damage done to the carport, Humphries explained that the vehicle was a different story.

"The car's pretty well destroyed, so I'd call it totaled," he said.

Firefighters were continuing to hose down the vehicle and the carport 15 minutes after arriving at the scene, though flames were no longer visible.

"They had good response. They got over here and it was pretty much just starting to spread to the building," Humphries said. "Luckily, there really was only probably one car that was in danger at that point."

Humphries explained that the only vehicle near the Escape, at the time of the fire, was moved before it appeared to sustain any damage.

A section of the white carport was blackened, with pieces of the structure melted and hanging down from the ceiling.